What is Save Scumming?

Save scumming means saving a video game right before a risky action and reloading if the result goes badly, repeating until you get the outcome you want.

Where did Save Scumming come from?

The written term dates to a December 15th, 2003 post by user Integral on the Battle for Wesnoth forum, though Bethesda's 1996 Daggerfall manual was already warning players against reloading to dodge consequences.

What does Save Scumming mean?

Save scumming refers to abusing a game's save and load system to avoid negative random outcomes, a loaded label since many games ship the quick-save mechanic as an intended feature.

How do you use Save Scumming?

Players typically save manually before a dice check, boss fight or loot drop, then reload if the roll fails, repeating until the preferred result lands. XCOM and Baldur's Gate are among the most-cited examples.

Is Save Scumming still popular?

Yes. Baldur's Gate 3's August 2023 release reignited debate around reloading for party scenes and dice rolls, and alignment chart memes about the practice gathered thousands of upvotes on r/paradoxplaza as late as 2020.

Save Scumming

2003slang termclassic

Published October 15, 2026

Save Scumming is the gamer habit of saving right before a risky moment and reloading until the roll lands in your favor, a workaround that developers warned against as early as 19963. The slang itself first appeared on a Wesnoth strategy forum in December 20031 and sparked long-running debates across RPG and grand strategy communities. By March 2020, Paradox fans were sorting attitudes toward the practice into alignment chart memes on r/paradoxplaza9.

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Overview

Posts tagged Save Scumming typically fall into two camps: confession memes, where players admit to reloading a quest dozens of times to steer a result, and judgment memes, where purists mock the habit4. Alignment charts are a common format, mapping stances from 'lawful good: accept every bad roll' to 'chaotic evil: edit the save file'9. The debate flares up most in titles where one dice check can derail hours of play, including Baldur's Gate and XCOM.

Urban Dictionary's 2013 entry still carries the loaded tone of the fight, calling the term one used 'by morons and pedants' who label an intentional mechanic as cheating6. Football Manager and Rimworld fandoms generate their own variations whenever an unlucky RNG event wipes a playthrough.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Battle for Wesnoth forum (first documented use) / Reddit (meme spread)

Date

2003

Reloading a save predated the slang by at least a decade. Bethesda's manual for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, released in 1996, directly asks players to skip the 'Replay the Save Game' strategy and live with consequences of failed actions3. First written use of 'save-scumming' appears on December 15th, 2003, in a post by user Integral on the Battle for Wesnoth forum1.

Early adoption played out on strategy and RPG forums. On January 1st, 2006, user BeefontheBone used the term in a Civilization Fanatics Center thread about tribal village outcomes in Civilization IV2.

How It Spread

TV Tropes user Thessalor added a dedicated Save Scumming page on August 1st, 20105, giving the term a reference entry. Urban Dictionary followed on September 2nd, 2013, with user TorpedoMoo writing the first definition6. Through the 2010s, the slang settled into standard vocabulary across gaming subreddits and 4chan boards4.

Artist JHallComics put the behavior into a strip titled 'THE SCUM OF XCOM' for Dorkly on February 24th, 2016, poking at XCOM 2 players who could not accept a missed 95 percent shot7. Dedicated meme formats followed in late-decade subreddits. On April 19th, 2019, Redditor lzyan posted a Football Manager meme about save-scumming in cup finals that earned over 2,300 upvotes on r/footballmanagergames8. Alignment chart memes arrived on March 23rd, 2020, when MChainsaw's chart of save-scumming attitudes gathered over 3,300 upvotes on r/paradoxplaza9.

The August 2023 release of Baldur's Gate 3 reignited the argument as players reloaded to tune party relationships and sidestep bad dice checks4.

Timeline

1996

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall ships with a manual asking players not to replay saves after failed actions.

2003-12-15

User Integral posts the earliest known written use of 'save-scumming' on the Battle for Wesnoth forum.

2006-01-01

User BeefontheBone uses the term in a Civilization IV thread on the Civilization Fanatics Center forum.

2010-08-01

TV Tropes user Thessalor creates the site's Save Scumming entry.

2013-09-02

User TorpedoMoo writes the first Urban Dictionary definition for save scumming.

2016-02-24

JHallComics publishes 'THE SCUM OF XCOM' on Dorkly, framing XCOM 2 players as save-scummers.

2019-04-19

Redditor lzyan's Football Manager save-scumming meme passes 2,300 upvotes on r/footballmanagergames.

2020-03-23

Redditor MChainsaw posts an alignment chart of save-scumming attitudes on r/paradoxplaza, gathering over 3,300 upvotes.

2023-08

Baldur's Gate 3's release reignites debate as players reload for better dice checks and party scenes.

Save Scumming

Overview

Gallery

Origin & Background

How It Spread

Frequently Asked Questions

References (9)